在泰国最后十多天的日子

工作也交待得七七八八了，剩下的日子是帮忙看头看尾，应该没什么大问题了。


最大的问题是：我没有东西做了。闷啊！！！



回头想想，在这里学到的东西真多，几乎是人生中一段的速成班。感恩所有参与在内的人。呵呵。



再过不久就回家了。时间过得很快，不久又要开始忙碌了。加油！



阿弥陀佛，六时吉祥。

I don't know if you expats feeling the same....

It had been quite some years I'm away from home. Far away from home. Alone.

Staying alone, really alone, with only my laptop as my entertainment, something that keep me connected to my world back home, keeping me sane.

Though with the technology so advance that my family and I can contact almost everyday, but the lacking of touch, I somehow felt that "do-I-really-need-to-care-so-much" growing silently within.

Am I getting more selfish? Am I losing my sanity? Am I.... lost?

Who am I? Where do I come from? How should I be behaving?

When your family members failed to see what kind of situation you're in, I need to prevent that selfishness to keep on growing within.

I must keep my sanity in, as well as my family.




It could be a process that one must go through, and go through I must. Stay strong.

What you need to know about when there is a natural disaster: Flood

It had been a long long while since I updated, but I think there's a littttttttttttle need for me to update now: the Thai flood.

As far as I've remembered, I've only encountered one small flood when I was back in Malaysia, of which is about 30cm in height. Now that I am working in Bangkok, I'm going to experience it again, maybe. *My place is still dry*

Thai people had been bombarded by massive information over the internet and has got NO CONCLUSION how bad this will go, and how long it will be. For the first few weeks, it caused panic and everyone had been storing food and clean water for use when the flood is coming in.

As for my place, the people here had been waiting for a very long time for the flood to come. From "Flood, please don't come", then they prepared, and waited, to "please come now, we are tired of waiting an anticipating".

Massive bombardment of information had put many yet-to-wet-lands into halt. Business, schools, restaurants and etc. The economy is taking a big hit from this flood. Tourists are worried and many of them cancelled their trips to Bangkok - of which is a good thing, and a bad thing at the same time.

Why bad? Cash flow. The flood had already "prevented" many tourists to come and spend. Let's take the ancient city Ayudhya for example. It had been flooding for weeks, and it's still flooding, and will be flooding. When the water's gonna go away? No one knows exactly. Now is Bangkok's turn.

Many of my friends had retreated from Bangkok but I'm still stucked here with works. It's not to say that my boss's crazy or what but, it's the right thing to do at the moment, for a company to survive. Many of the companies are doing the same thing. We won't know when the flood is coming, we won't know how long we might need to close down our factories.

However, we are all still pretty lucky because food is still widely available, but bottled water is sarced. You can hardly find a tiny bottle of water in Tesco Lotus, 7-11, Family Mart, or even restaurants. Clean drinking water will be one of the main concern and major problem when the flood fully covering Bangkok, I think.

Nonetheless, Thailand is full with kind people. We have got a lot of people helping out each other and at the same time, many charity bodies joined in and help to get things right. Thanks to people like Roosuflood, many people understand more about the flood and get themselves much more well prepared.

Not to forget, we too, have people like @RichardBarrow to update us (the Thai Language illiterate, LOL) in English, with #ThaiFloodEng too. The world is good with people like them all around to help.

Last but not least, pray for Thai and the world. =)

A little update after the blog dust-ed

Reflection

An eye from the past

Lovely sky

Shade

Different

Journey

Cave

Do not 

A not-so-secret-beach in Krabi

Group shots with everyone!

Another group shot

Satisfaction

Friends

Friends

Exotic Thai Girl in Shopping Mall

What?! Thai girl?! You must have read wrong. I meant tiger. LOL.

Unlike usual, I suddenly have some mood to bring my big ass camera mounted with Minolta 50mm F1.7 and go out for a stroll. To my surprise, it ain't a bad call to bring my camera along because I'm seeing exotic Thai girl tiger along with other exotic animals.

1. If you watched Lion King, you know who is this!

2. Tortoise

3. Python... i guess. 

4. You! Hands up!

5. Meow~

6. Croc.

7. Why no one see me?

8. Parrot

9. Owl. 

10. Jealous. 

11. 

12. A curious one looking on.

13. Feeding the cub and take picture. I don't know how much though but surely, it'll costs a bomb. 

14. Squirrel!

15. Puppy testing on its new cloth. 

And the next picture, is the MOST exotic animal that they ever brought to this animal exhibition..

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16. Pikachu. 

Have a nice day people.

Finally after a 7-week long hectic work-all-days-include-weekends, everyone gets to rest on Saturday & Sunday.

Since I have got 2 good days to rest, I've decided to catch up the movies that I had left out lately.

1. The sky was clear and dark blue-ish. I went back for a bath and came back again in 20 minutes, it became like this. T_T 

2. This is the only part of the sky that is still blue-ish. 

3. Just to let you see how is the bus ticket look like in Thai.

On Saturday, I went for "Super 8" and "X-Men First Class". I must say that, I heard too many good reviews on Super 8 that, made me somehow disappointed in it. On the other hand, I think at least X-Men is worth the money.

4. Of course, I went for my brunch first before the movie. This is Burger King's Triple Outlaw, and yet, it's still small. Felt like I've got cheated. 239 baht. =( Oh well. Life goes on. 

5. The entry to the cinema. There are big comfortable sofas outside for you to sit while waiting for your movie to start. And I like the decorations a lot. 

After the movies, out of a sudden my shopping mood is on. This is VERY RARE! I bought 2 trunks for Krabi later next month.

6. Later of Saturday, when I am going home, I saw this. Immediately I took out my wife and start snapping. 

Today (Sunday) I have class in the same place. So I went back again. Today aren't as lucky as yesterday. It was raining heavily and I almost soaked up. After the class, I went and bought what I've struggled to buy or not yesterday.

7. Two trunks on the left bought on Saturday, the 5 shirts (the one that I'm struggling to buy) are in promotion BUY 4 FREE 1. One mouse on the top left corner, Harry Potter & the Death Hollow Part 1 plus two games. 

p/s: Let's hope I have time to game. XD

What's in their mind?

Why is it that, some people managed to do it while some others, like me, can't?

What is the different element that's playing in their mind compared to mine?







Or is it that, I'm just too weak after all?

我还好吗？

相信，也没有几个人记得这边了。应该是一个讲秘密蛮不错的地方。

我，不明白为什么有贪得无厌的人。
我，不明白为什么有忘恩负义的人。
我，不明白为什么有目中无人的人。

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我，不明白为什么我会在这边。希望阿弥陀佛给些指引，让我知道我该怎么继续走。

我可以！

自己一个人的天空，必须自己撑着、顶着。

不管多累、多想放弃，自己一直孤独的鼓励着自己：我可以！

就像小草，风吹雨打后，一样是竖立起来了。

Taxi Scams - Bangkok (Read this if you're coming here for vacations)

First of all, I must say that Thailand is a really not-too-bad country. I am loving the culture as well as the people here. I had been staying here for almost 2 months and all things are good so far. 

Enough for the introduction, let's go to the stories. MY stories. 3 different taxi drivers tried to cheat me 3 times in a row on 2 consecutive days. 

Scam 1:

I touched down again in BKK yesterday and as usual, I got a taxi from the airport. It all went well. The meter was on, the driver DID NOT "beat-around-the-bush" and he sent me directly and exactly to where I wanted. 

Once he stopped the car, he immediately turned off the engines (and the meter turned off as well). 

"Nung roi ha sip baht (150 baht)", he said. "Mai chai! Nung roi yii sip sam! (No! 113 baht!)", I exclaimed while taking out 100 baht bank note and coins from my wallet. He was shocked, and he snapped the 100 baht from me and drove away quickly. 

This is something new I experienced!

Lesson: Always keep your eyes on the meter as it goes. It might just helps you in time like this. 

Scam 2: 

I was taking some sourveniers to work today morning. So it's not convenient for me to take the Soong Diao (a type of local transportation, bigger than a tuk-tuk, normally costs about 6 - 8 baht) to work and hence, I get a taxi to work. 

This guy is a cliche one, he tried to bring me to another way, a much longer way. Lucky me that I know the place, I told him that I know the direction and please go as I said. He had no choice but to follow. 

Lesson: Learn about your location and destination. At least, you roughly know where you are even though you can't speak/stop them for bringing you around the destination. 

Scam 3:

Another cliche one.

I wanted to go to airport and fetch my colleague. So I got this taxi and went in it, telling him that I would like to get to Survanabhumi Airport. 

"Soong roi (200)", he said. 

"Mai daii (Cannot!)! Meter!"

Then only he use the meter. The actual fare is only 95 baht from my location to the airport. 

Lesson: Whenever you're in Thailand, ALWAYS insist on using the meter. You often lose on negotiated price when it comes to taxi. 

Some facts about taking 4-seater taxi from Survanabhumi Airport (I'm not sure about the other airports):

1) Whenever you get a taxi from the airport, there's a surcharge of 50 baht (excluding fare and toll). You MUST pay this amount. However, the 50 baht surcharge will not be implemented if you get the taxi from other places (outside airport region), and going to the airport. 

2) If you're taking taxi from airport to the town, you will experiece the below scenarios:

    a) The taxi driver will pay the toll first, and you will need to pay them the toll fee later on.

    b) The taxi driver will ask you to give them some money first (example: 100 baht), and when you reach your

        destination, they will give you back the change. 

    Shall you need receipt for toll, you may tell the driver "Bill/Check". They will get the toll receipt from the operator on 

    the way. IF I'm not mistaken, I don't recall getting any receipt for taxi fare though. 

3) Whenever you're taking a taxi, make sure you have SMALL CHANGE (100 baht or 500 baht). The taxi driver might not 

    be able to return the change to you if you're paying them 1000 baht. So, go get something from the stalls for small 

    change before leaving the airport. 

4) From the Survanabhumi Airport, the average travelling time to reach the city center (Silom Road, etc) are about 35-45 minutes [no traffic jam] and 45 - 90 minutes [or more, if during peak hours]. Schedule your arrival time and avoid peak hours. The taxi drivers usually drive at 120kmph whenever they can. 

5) Average taxi fare from Survanabhumi Airport to city center are about 220-300 baht (or a little bit more). Toll fare will be about 85 baht and gives you a total of 300 baht - 400 baht max (city center). 

Extra facts: 

You may also take the Airport Rail Link to the city from the Survanabhumi Airport if you dislike travelling by taxi. 

a) You may take the direct link from the Survanabhumi Airport to Mahkasan for a fee (sorry I don't have the price). 

b) You may take the normal train (stop by several stations) from Survanabhumi Airport Station to Phaya Thai Station roughly about 45-60 baht per person. From Phaya Thai Station, you will be able reach other parts of the city at different fares. 

Useful phrases: 

1) Hello/ Goodbye = Sawadeekrap (male speaker) / Sawadeeka (female speaker)

2) Sorry/Excuse me = Korthor krap/ka

3) Where is the toilet/washroom? = Hong naam yuu tii nai krap/ka

4) How many (quantity) = Tao-rai

5) How many baht/ How much = Gii-baht? 

6) Have/Don't have = Mi/mai mi

7) Want/Don't want = Aau/mai aau

8) Can/Cannot = Daii/mai daii

9) Cheap = tuuk (normally you won't want to say cheap when  you're bargaining, right?)

10) Expensive = Pheng

11) very very expensive = Pheng maak maak

12) thank you = krob khun krap/ka

13) station = Satanii

If you are looking for cheap hotels, Kao Shan Road is the best place to find when you're visiting Bangkok. It's averagely start from USD 11/night. I don't know what way you would like to book/find your hotels but, I had always been using www.agoda.com (nope they didn't pay me. I wish they would LOL). Agoda.com offers really great deals all over the world. (Again, they DID NOT pay me.) If you don't believe, you can try to check out the rates =) 

Hope these experiences of mine give you a better pleasure when you're visiting Thailand in the near future. =D

A colourful tuk-tuk placed at the entrance of MBK shopping center as tourist attraction.

Disclaimer: I am not bad-mouthing about Thailand, but just to raise awareness of our rights as tourists. Thailand is a great place, lots of fun and lots of good food. You will <3 Thailand. Do forgive me if there's any inaccurate information provided, I'm only a human. =D

Of BKK & Malaysia

It's like one post per month? Still not too bad, at least it's still alive, LOL. I'll try to snap more pictures and put it up here, alright?

1. Last 2 weeks, went to MBK and meet Mike and friends. They are heading for the Motor Show while me just wandering around the town. 

2. I was a little early so I did some street shot. 

3. Playing with long shutter.

4. Another try. Could be better if the sky is darker, I think. 

5. Sunset in BKK town.

6. There's this tut-tut outside the MBK main entrance. One of the popular attraction. 

7. Kau ka mu - Pork leg rice, one of the local delicacy, yummy!

8. Fried oyster with egg. Look at the size of the oyster compared to what we have in Malaysia! 

9. Mango sticky rice, another local delicacy! 

10. Forgot what they called this, but it's made from yellow bean/soy bean

11. The next day I woke up, with the word "shopping" in my mind! For once, I got hyped up to shop! So right after my Thai language class, I went and grab my lunch. 

12. Slrrrup! Sadly, I went home empty handed. I just couldn't find the things I want. =(

13. Of course, on the 9th April, after a per-Songkran celebration, I rushed to the airport. I noticed that, at many places, flights to LCCT via AirAsia, always placed somewhere the furthest in the airport. Always. 

14. Carriene!

15. CK!

16. Wen-Dick! Thanks thee three for celebrating with me!! Thanks for the cake too!

17. And I don't understand why this thing costs RM 10.00 =.=

18. Jayne & Karin

19. The infamous Tomm Kruise, Ngiam

20. Jayne doing the ghost face XD

21. See Wah

22. See Wah with her drink and phone while Pauline peeking from the side.

23. Jun Kit

24. Ngiam, me and the Old Town guy. Opps, I mean Kam. 

25. The girls

26. The Old Town guy at rage. 

27. Thanks for the cake!! XD

28. 

29. Older 1 year le.. 

30. 

31. 

32. 

Hopefully I can get to shoot more and post up more! =D